TRADITIONAL CUT STONE LTD.Hand Crafted Masterpieces in Natural Stone

A Stone Age Revival TCS Article 006

Published In:

Date:

National Post

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Craftsmen using traditional tools are helping to bring Toronto’s

Old City Hall back to its Romanesque glory - even if it means

tapping and English quarry.

The bell on the tower at Old City Hall strikes six o’clock. The

courts have shut, the accused have been returned to prison, the

judges and lawyers have gone home. Height above where

traffic and people stream along Bay and Queen streets, James

Young, a fresh-faced Newfoundlander, is leading me on a

scramble up and down the maze of scaffolding erected for the

conservation of this Romanesque Revival masterpiece.

Abruptly, Mr. Young, the construction supervisor, stops and

points to a decoration on a dormer, five stories up on the south

side. There, among leaves, branches, and flowers etched into

the red sandstone, is a new carving of a man’s face.

“Lawrence [Voaides, master stone carver at Traditional Cut

Stone Ltd.] did that”, says Mr. Young, “I don’t know who it is. He

carved his own face, too, and a third face, though I’m not sure

where they are.”

Well, what the heck. If you’re going to embark on a gargantuan

restoration of Old City Hall that takes longer - and costs at least

15 times as much - as building the behemoth in the first place,

then you might as well have some fun while you’re at it.

Photos: Above right, Grigore Rotaru ofTraditional Cut Stone works a slab of red

sandstone that will be used to replace agingstonework on the Old City Hall in Toronto

TRADITIONAL CUT STONE LTD.Hand Crafted Masterpieces in Natural Stone

A Stone Age Revival TCS Article 006

After all, Mr. Voaides is in good company. Edward james

Lennox, the Toronto architect who built this place, showed his

own mischievous side in 1899. City Hall was years late and way

over budget and Mr. Lennox was taking flak. Just before the

ribbon-cutting, his team carved satirical portraits of

meddlesome city councillors - and a flattering portrait of himself

- visible to this day, right over the main entrance. (The city also

refused to pay his whole bill and forbade a plaque with his

name; in retaliation he carved “E.J. Lennox Architect A.D. 1898”

in foot-high letters in the bracket at the eaves that wrap the

building).

If you’re like me or any of the other accused with business (in

my case, a traffic ticket) at Old City Hall, you blow by the

scaffolds, wrapped in green netting against sandstone dust,

and wonder “When the heck are they going to be done with the

restoration work?” City councillors have roughly the same

assessment of the job. But I stopped for a closer look and

discovered one of Toronto’s most remarkable undertakings: the

loving and painstaking job, involving 1,500 pieces of stone, of

restoring the city’s architectural masterpiece.

E.J. Lennox, also architect of Casa Loma and the King Edward

Hotel, won the commission for what we now call Old City Hall in

1886. The city put aside $1.6-million. Costs soared; Torontonians

voted in two plebiscites to continue the job. Sandstone came

from New Brunswick and the Forks of the Credit in Caledon;

granite came from Orangeville. Then years later Mayor John

Shaw opened the still-unfinished building, by then costing $2.5-

million.

“Great buildings symbolize a people’s deeds and aspirations,”

the mayor said then.

Sandstone, though, deteriorates

with age. On March 9, 1921, the jaw

of a gargoyle on the clock tower

crashed through the roof, narrowly

missing a draftsman in the Works

department on the attic floor.

Fearing for public safety, the city

removed the four clock tower

gargoyles, leaving eight other gargoyles in place. Things were okay

for about 75 years (aside from that little problem in the 1960s when a

popular uprising saved Old City Hall from demolition for the Eaton

Centre).

Then, in 1996, a chunk of sandstone fell off by the main entrance,

“narrowly missing a member of the public,” recalls George

Parcalidis, project manager in the City of Toronto’s Facilities and Real

Estate division. “It was a close call. It was a blessing in disguise,

allowing us to address the serious deterioration.”

In 1997, the city began restoration. They hired The Ventin Group as

architects, who put Peter Burton in charge of the job. It was a poetic

choice: Mr. Berton’s father, author Pierre Berton, had fought to save

Old City Hall in the 1960s. Restorers ran into a small problem, though:

the quarries of Mr. Lennox’s day have shut down.

“Look at this country!” exclaims Mr. Parcalidis. “All kinds of natural

resources and no active quarry here in Ontario that produces red

sandstone.” Which leads us to the bizarre spectacle of Toronto

importing 25 containerloads from the quarries of Hulberton, N.Y.

So far, along with spending $15-million on a new copper roof, the city

Photos: The tools of the trade.

TRADITIONAL CUT STONE LTD.Hand Crafted Masterpieces in Natural Stone

A Stone Age Revival TCS Article 006

has spent $23-million on the masonry restoration. In phase I,

they replaced selected stones on the main entrance. In 2000, as

that job ended, another 20 kg gargoyle jaw fell off on the north

side. It was timely; “We were seeking funding for the second

phase,” says Mr. Parcalidis. Council approved it. In phase II,

they restored the west and north entrances. In phase III, the 79-

metre high clock tower - for which four 3- metre bronze

gargoyles were cast - was restored. Now they’re on phase IV,

restoring the Queen and Bay Street sides, and repointing every

stone. It is a dusty, hot and tricky job, and there is an additional

danger: incurring the wrath of a judge.

“A guy with a little airgun was cleaning out mortar joints and

the sound was going right down into the courtroom,” recalls Mr.

Young, the supervisor.

“I got hauled in front of a judge in J court. She made me wait

half an hour and then threatened to hold me in contempt of

court.”

That would not be good, so Mr. Young switched the job to nights

for the past two weeks. Once the old stone is gone he can

resume working days, he says, to install new stone for the rest

of the summer.

Photos: Side, a mystery face amid thegallery of gargoyles.